FirelordAkiko

I study Isshin Ryu. Our lineage goes - Master Tatsuo Shimabuku - Master Angi Uezu - Kyoshi Robert Slywa (7th dan) - me.

chrisw08, sensei8, I agree, they do look awesome. Most of the high grades at the club have Shureido natural sai. I've also found Worbington Steele website, his sai look quite good too. I've emailed Phillip Worbington about the price. Not sure how his sai compare to Shureido though.

Hello, I was thinking about getting some kama and sai from Shureido. Are old fashioned sai better than natural? And does anyone know how much is shureido shipping to Australia? Also, are there any other sai manufacturers that have good balance sai around $200 range? Thanks!

Hey, I'm new here, decided to join in some discussions. Abit about history, did GKR for couple of years, then migrated to Tsuzukete end of 2010. Just gone and passed my brown belt grading on Tuesday. I'm a big karate addict - try to learn everything there is to know. Bunkai, history of kata, different kata. So yes, that's about it. Fight on!

Sai. Nice and legal weapon to carry around.

I suggest reading this article by Dennis Fink, it is very enlightening as to the 'purpose' of kata. In my training, I've been told, that in the old days, Okinawan Karate practitioners never used to have the basics. They only had kata and bunkai. As you advanced further through the grades, you would learn more complicated kata, and more complicated bunkai, at the rate that you can absorb the information. Kata and Bunkai go hand in hand. Kata without Bunkai is like dancing. In my opinion, practicing bits of kata in combinations and the appropriate bunkai enough times should make you do an effective counter to someone's attack. In my Isshin-Ryu training, I've now done Seisan enough times to employ the moves in that kata in a real fight.

Isshin-Ryu Karate and RyuKyu Kobudo: Kyoshi Robert Slywa - 7th Dan http://www.oika.net/